Joyfully announcing to anyone that would listen that we were heading to Sardinia for the weekend, it was interesting to see the reactions. Some faked knowledge and put it right next to Hungary, others were more honest and either just looked at us sideways or asked 'where the hell is that?'. They could be forgiven, as we were asking the same question when we booked our ridiculously cheap flights from Gatwick to Olbia. We were almost brave enough (but not quite) to book it and go without looking up where it was. For those still in suspense, Sardinia is that big island off the west coast of Italy.

We arrived in Olbia on the east side of the island, and Aaron bravely drove the 100 or so kms to Alghero on the west coast, where we were staying in a small B&B. Having a car made life easy, we could come and go as we pleased, and on the first night when it hailed (yes hail! on a tropical italian island) we could shelter from the weather.

As we were there in off-season it was pretty relaxed and quiet, but it was nice to soak up some italian atmosphere, by that I mean pizza, pasta, coffee, wine and gelati, and wander the tiny streets and windy cliffs. Apart from the attrocious weather on day 1, it was mainly sunny, but cold, but you could imagine the beaches packed in the summer time.

I would recommend it if you want to head away and not do much. Obviously more appealing in the summer, but it was enjoyable to get some fresh sea air and sunshine.

Having friends spread around the country is always a good excuse to travel and with Ken, a friend from Uni, currently living and working in Bristol, the rest of us didn't need much prompting to invite ourselves along... It was planned, as all good plans are, over alcohol at the Waitangi Day Pub Crawl.

Lisa and Corde (more uni friends) met up in London on Friday night and caught the train across on Friday morning and Aaron and I had an early start to drive across on Saturday morning. That afternoon, we headed to Wales (just across the bridge) for a pub lunch and to play in a Castle, Chepstow to be specific.
Chepstow Castle is quite large and you can see how it has been built up over time to grow to the size it is now. For those history buffs, check out http://www.castlewales.com/chepstow.html

Saturday evening was spent eating, drinking and generally being merry (can't tell you much more than that, cos I can't remember, though safe to say that it was getting messy by the end of the night).

Sunday, we had wonderful plans to get up and head to Bath, but the weather spoiled that one, so we went for a wander around Bristol in the daylight before heading for home.